SanDisk has unveiled its Sansa slotMusic player, the hardware designed especially for its new slotMusic microSD music platform.

The plug and play, portable music player will be available Sansa-branded player, as well as branded for various "popular artists" such as Robin Thicke and Abba.

As well as playing the pre-loaded slotMusic cards, available in the States now, playback from self-loaded is also an option as long as the music is in MP3 or DRM-free WMA.

The artist-branded players will come pre-loaded with an album on a 1GB slotMusic card that will offer additional content aside from the audio, such as liner notes, album art and other one-of-a-kind content.

Artist-branded slotMusic players will retail for a suggested price of $34.99 while the Sansa model will cost $19.99.

Weighing just over two ounces, the player measures 2.7 x 1.4 x 1.4-inches and will be available with accessories, such as a card wallet, an arm band and customisable shells.

Available in the US now, SanDisk says the player is expected to be available from retailers in Europe and other regions of the world in 2009.